Phoenix
by Jacaranda
Summary: Someone told her once that you had to rise from the ashes of your mistakes. Unfortunately, no one seemed to realize what that entailed.
1. Stun Me

( THEMES! "My Goddess" by .. a band, I forget the name, is for Azalea, "Big Machine" by the Goo Goo Dolls is for Senna, "Machinehead" by Bush is for Alexia, "Gone Away" by The Offspring is for Ginny, and "On Your Mind" by 909 is for Hermione. The boys get their songs next chapter, they're harder to find music for. )  
  
Two girls, one fair-haired, slender, and angelic-looking in the most stereotypical sense, the other red-headed, shapely, petite, and pixieish in her delicacy, were perched on a canopy bed in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. They were in the sixth year girls' Gryffindor tower, the hangings on the bed wrapped round to obscure them. They were talking animatedly about something both parties had much interest in, although they expressed it in very different ways.  
  
"Oliver Wood. Without a doubt. Any guy who's that intense about a -sport-, for heaven's sake, must be an insanely devoted boyfriend. Or one-night stand," the girl mused.  
  
" .. what if he said no?" Ginny quirked an eyebrow at her best friend, Alexia O'Malley, who was sitting across from her on Ginny's canopy bed. Like Ginny, Alexia was a sixth year.  
  
"I'd tie him down and make him say yes," Alexia responded automatically, grinning at her best friend. Ginny just shook her head.  
  
"We were second years when he graduated," Ginny protested, "That's just wrong. And illegal!"  
  
"Is not," Alex smirked, "I haven't touched him .. yet."  
  
"YET?!" Ginny burst into peals of laughter and threw a pillow at the blonde girl, who snatched hold of the pillow and started smacking Ginny with it.  
  
"Ow, ow, ow! You win!" The redhead pulled away, her ponytail mussed and falling out. "Oh, now look what you did," she mock-complained, pulling her wavy crimson hair loose and combing it out with her fingertips.  
  
Alexia just cocked an eyebrow at her.  
  
"You did," Ginny muttered, pulling her hair back.  
  
"Don't do that," Alex protested, pulling the hairband out of Ginny's hands, "You never wear your hair down, it looks so much better."  
  
Ginny rolled her eyes but dropped the hairband on the bed, drawing to a stand. She straightened out her robes, wrinkled from sitting cross-legged. Alexia stood up, too.  
  
"We should go down for dinner," Alex said with a glance out through the window. Snow was falling steadily and they would go on Christmas break day after next. Both girls had decided to stay at Hogwarts. Neither of them were very fond of their families, particularly during hols.  
  
Ginny nodded and they walked down to the common room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there - or, as Alex referred to them, "the Wonderkins". Alex and Ron didn't get on so well, so she referred to him as "Ginny's stalker" because he had the tendency to want to check on Ginny at odd times for equally odd reasons. He didn't appreciate that nickname much, which is why she said it frequently.  
  
"Hi, Harry, Hermione, Stalker boy," Alex greeted them. Ginny just smiled and waved a little, glancing down slightly when Harry met her eyes.  
  
"I am not. a. stalker," Ron gritted out. Hermione glanced at him warily.  
  
"Whatever you say, Ginny's stalker," Alex said breezily, "We're going to dinner. You all want to come with?" She spoke directly to Harry and Ginny knew it was for her benefit, but still - she couldn't help but feel a little bothered. Why couldn't she talk to Harry like that? Her crush on him wasn't as strong as it'd been, but she still felt strangely around him.   
  
"I think I'll stay," Ron said, still glowering at Alex, who wasn't oblivious but made a good show of pretending.  
  
"Me too, I guess," Hermione shrugged. She and Ron had been off and on since last year and lately, they were more on than anything else.  
  
"Harry?" Alex widened her big blue eyes at him and Ginny knew he was sold. She just wished it was because of her eyes, not her pretty best friend's. She could tell Alex what was going on, but then she'd feel awful and Ginny would feel awful as a result of that. Better to just keep herself feeling mildly disgusted.  
  
Harry grinned and shrugged, "Well, alright."  
  
"Great," Alex chirped, "I'll lead the way, okay?" She made to stand a bit in front of them so Ginny and Harry would be forced to talk as they walked along.  
  
Harry flashed a smile at her and Ginny felt her cheeks go .. nothing? Hey, she didn't blush, this is progress. She tried a smile back. God, did he have to be so cute? Well, actually, she'd never looked directly at his face (his shoes had gotten lots of deep thought, though) for longer than a span of three seconds, and she was noticing there were a few imperfections there. He was still cute, but she found herself wishing he'd at least try to tame that crazy black hair. And he was seventeen, wasn't it about time to get his eyes magickally corrected? At least they weren't taped anymore. Admittedly, he'd shot up and towered over her at six feet tall, and had a very nice voice and a slim, fit physique, but still.  
  
She couldn't help but be less impressed than before, and it was kind of a let down.  
  
He noticed her gaze and quirked an eyebrow.  
  
"Something wrong?" Huh? Oh, she'd been staring. Now the blush trickled into her cheekbones, but it faded quickly.  
  
"No, I was just thinking, you've, uh .. changed a lot, since even last year," she shrugged. That much was true.  
  
"You, too," he replied sincerely, "You look like you're twenty-five, Ginny." Oh. Was that a compliment? It took a moment before she realized he was teasing. Tease back! But be subtle.  
  
"Well, thank you," she grinned up at him, "Does that mean I can go drinking now?" He raised both eyebrows at her.  
  
"Depends, do you want company?" Oooh.  
  
"Sure thing," and she realized she was very definitely flirting, "Why, do you know anyone who'd be interested?"  
  
"I can think of a few buyers, if you're selling your services, Red," a voice drawled from behind them. They were almost into the Great Hall. Ginny narrowed her eyes - she recognized that voice, although it'd deepened a lot since it was last directed at her.  
  
All three Gryffindors turned on their heel to shoot glares at Draco Malfoy, standing taller than even Harry and broader in the shoulders. Ginny found herself blushing red, but not because of the smart remark.  
  
"I suppose you'd be one of them, Ferret boy?" Alex snapped, "It'd explain where dogface gets all her money from."  
  
"Dogface?" Draco's voice was quiet and dangerous.  
  
"The little wench who's hanging off you every Yule Ball, of course," Harry growled at Draco. He slipped an arm protectively around Ginny's shoulders and she found herself inwardly going 'oh, NOW you're being nice.'  
  
"Jealous, Potter?" Draco's gaze landed on Ginny, the corners of his lips turning up in a smirk, "It looks like someone's keeping you occupied, though."  
  
"Excuse me?" Ginny found herself a little - offended? She didn't want Malfoy to think she was dating Harry. Why, though? It's not like Ferret, as Alex called him, really cared unless it was taunting material. She pulled away from Harry's arm so she could regain her personal space.  
  
"Ah, she speaks," Draco's smirk grew.  
  
"You're damn right I speak!" Ginny blazed, "What gives you the right to come over and make assumptions about my life? You don't know a thing about me or us, so just shut it."  
  
Draco straightened from his lean and strode over to her. Harry made a move to stop the blonde boy, but Alex's hand on his arm quieted him.  
  
"Shut it?" He stared down at Ginny, taking in the flushed cheeks, full lips, heart-shaped face, long flame-colored waves and big brown eyes, currently full of fire. Nothing wrong there, although she didn't have a clue. "Going to make me, little girl?"  
  
It was the 'little girl' comment that did it. Instead of drawing her wand or spitting a curse or something sensible, she did exactly what her brothers had done to one another when they were young, what she herself had practiced on forward men and boys. She pulled her arm back and socked him clean in the jaw. He rocketed back and almost fell, were it not for the wall behind him. His eyes were cold with fury and something else, now, and trained firmly on the littlest Weasley. He held his jaw, and Ginny knew there would be a sharp bruise there come morning.  
  
"You'll pay for that," he said softly, just so only she could hear, his voice bricked very slightly with pain. He turned and walked away, black robes waving behind him.  
  
Alex was staring at Ginny with a mixture of surprise and delight. Harry just looked shocked, and maybe a little impressed.  
  
"Ginny," Alexia breathed, "That .. was excellent."  
  
Glancing from a now faintly chuckling Harry to an immensely pleased Alexia, Ginny mustered a smile.  
  
"I know," she said, "Now can we please go eat?" 


	2. Best Girl

( I promised the boy's songs .. So, uhm. Draco's is "I Am Mine" by Pearl Jam. Senna, Azalea, and Alex, the lucky girls, get another song, too - "Siren" by Tori Amos for Senna, "Chinese Burn" by Curve for Aza, and "Girl" by Tori Amos for Alex. Yeah, I'm a Tori fan. Harry's is "Hero Inside" by 909, and Ron's is "When" by Chord. I'll keep adding themes as I go. )  
  
A day later, Ginny and Alex had snuck out of the castle to go and throw bread to the giant squid which was lurking just below the waters. Well, that was what they were doing currently - in truth, Alex had arranged for a cute Ravenclaw boy to come meet her there. They were going to wait for him and then he and Alex would go off to snog, and Ginny would stand lookout at the lake to ensure that they could make a break for it if anyone came down.  
  
"What's this one's name, anyhow?" Ginny asked, breaking off a bread crust and throwing it into the water. She watched as a tentacle rose up and snatched it in a quick spray.  
  
"Jamie," Alex sighed happily, "His little sister is Azalea Li, she's a fifth year in Ravenclaw too."  
  
"Really?" Ginny paused, "She's pretty crazy, isn't she?" She recalled a black-haired Asian girl with blue streaks in her hair and brown eyes, darker brown than Ginny's.  
  
Alex shrugged, "She hangs out with this Slytherin girl, mostly, which is kind of weird." Ginny thought that over.  
  
"Which Slytherin?"  
  
"She has black eyes .. she's kind of weird, I never see her with anybody but Aza," Alex shrugged and then brightened as a male form came towards them. It was indeed Jamie. He and Alex promptly went off towards behind Hagrid's house to make out.  
  
Ginny sighed and sat down beside the water. One forlorn bread crust lay at the top of the lake until a tentacle finally came and grabbed it. She wondered what would happen if she just wandered into the lake, too. Would the squid eat her? What would it be like to be eaten by a squid? Painful, she guessed, and inky. Inky, not icky, although that could be said as well.   
  
"Red," a voice said, and she felt a presence settle down next to her on the bench she'd found. No one else called her Red, and no one else made her feel that jumpy by just voice and aura alone.  
  
"Malfoy," she said, voice rising somewhat in pitch. She was scared. She remembered what he'd said earlier and realized she should've taken him a little more seriously.  
  
"Relax," he said, irritated, "I'm a little worn out to be battling psychotic redheads right now."  
  
"I'm not psychotic," she said automatically and then added, "And if I am, you most certainly fit under that category as well." She was shocked when he chuckled, although there was a note of condescension in his voice, at least he was almost laughing. After a moment, she realized it was self-derogatory.   
  
"Yeah, I know," he said, absently almost. She glanced over at his profile, illuminated by moonlight, and saw the bruise she'd made .. but she also saw a cut along the side of his neck and a split lip.  
  
"What happened?" She kept her voice light, not wanting to get his guard up. It was so weird - talking with him, easily, were it not for that underlying current of electric energy that seemed to pop up when he was near.  
  
"You aren't the only person who wants to hit me around the head," he shrugged, looking over at her. She saw herself reflected in his gray eyes and something there made her throat, stomach, and things even lower all tighten and constrict.  
  
He looked at her a long moment and then nodded.  
  
"You confuse me, Red, you know that?" He changed the subject smoothly so she could tear her gaze away and look out at the dark rippling water, waves softly lapping at the toes of her worn sneakers.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said. Well, how else were you supposed to respond to something like that?  
  
"Here I had you figured as one of the Dream Team followers, hanging off Potter's arm every chance you got .. pathetic, letting yourself be lower than them because you didn't? What, act like a git at every chance you got?" He shook his head. Ginny wasn't sure she liked where he was going with this, but she did recognize herself in the behaviors he described - she had acted like she was lower than Harry and Hermione and Ron, she had acted like she didn't deserve to be around them, like she wasn't good enough.  
  
"Dream team," she said absently, "Alex calls them the Wonderkins."  
  
He looked at her and nodded.  
  
"Same idea," he shrugged, "But then yesterday I saw you with Potter and make no mistake, you were the one in control of that conversation. And you yelled at me and hit me."  
  
"I'm hoping none of those three things appeal to you," she furrowed her brow at him. What was he getting at?  
  
"No. I just don't like being surprised," he smirked at her. She could sense that protective exterior flowing back onto him and wished she could stop it. It was like his robes, almost, how tangible that shell was.  
  
"That's odd, given it's you saying it," she remarked dryly. She felt tired, drained, suddenly. That current of energy would sap her dry if she never went anywhere with it, Ginny realized. But she didn't know what the hell she could do with it, so she refrained from saying anything. He ignored her comment.  
  
"You and that girl like to ask each other those stupid quiz questions, right?"  
  
She knew what he meant - she and Alex were fond of asking each other things like "if you could only take three things on a desert vacation .." or "if you had everyone in Gryffindor tower on a shipwrecked island, who would you eat first?"  
  
"Yeah, what about them?"   
  
"Ask me one."   
  
Okay, he just got stranger and stranger. She thought about this, though. End of the world questions seemed appropriate for Mr. Black Clothes.  
  
"If the world was going to end in ten minutes," she said, "what would you do?"  
  
He sat back on his heels and thought about that a moment. She took the time to examine him - the high, angular cheekbones, sensuous mouth, intensely icy eyes, tousled pale blonde hair that seldom stayed slicked back like it had when he was in his younger years, instead falling shaggy and slightly waved to his cheekbones, the skin alabaster pale while hers was bright ivory, although they could probably be matched shade for shade.  
  
"I'd snog with the best girl in school," he said, finally, and she was a little disappointed. That was it? Even Malfoys were susceptible to hormones, apparently, although considering the washed out hag he dated that was debatable.  
  
"How teenage boy of you," she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Aren't you going to ask who the best girl is?" He was smirking at her. Again.  
  
"Uh, sure," she shrugged, "Who's the best girl in school?"  
  
He drew to a stand, taking a step back from her and towards the castle.  
  
"I'm not telling."  
  
She felt her cheeks go bright and her eyes narrow. He'd set her up just for that .. oh well, like she cared? It was probably that Slytherin girl who never talked or something, or Pansy Parkinson. Ugh. She watched him walk up the path, turning only once, slightly, to call out a goodbye consisting of "Later, Red." Idiot boy.  
  
Oh well, at least she'd have an interesting story to tell Alexia. 


	3. Treachery

Later, Alex and Ginny were again on Ginny's bed, speaking in hushed tones, so the two other girls in sixth year couldn't hear what they were saying. It didn't really matter, anyway. Megan and Pandora never paid attention to anyone but each other.  
  
"That's so twisted," Alex whispered, "I mean, what are you gonna do?"  
  
Ginny shrugged.  
  
"Not much I can do," she murmured back, "I mean, if he wants to be friends - okay, I guess."  
  
"Ginny," Alex said, aghast, "He's Malfoy. He's a Slytherin. He's a bad person - you know that, especially after -"  
  
"I know all that," Ginny cut through her best friend's words, "But I don't believe in bad people. Everyone's good, deep down .."  
  
"Even You-Know-Who?" Alex asked, eyes wide.  
  
Ginny appeared to think that through.  
  
"Even him," she said softly. Alex just looked at her, surprised.  
  
"I'm starting to think I don't know you as well as I thought," Alex told Ginny, who just shrugged again and nodded.  
  
"Tired?" Ginny changed the subject.  
  
"Completely," Alex said with a bit of a grin, "Jamie's very energetic."   
  
Ginny laughed as her friend rolled onto her own bed.   
  
"Are you two going to sleep?" Megan asked, looking over at the other girls. The fact that there were four of them worked out nicely - two pairs. Megan and Pandora were a lot more cliquey than Ginny and Alex, though, and people sometimes said they (Meg and Pandy) were more than just friends. Ginny didn't know whether or not that was true, but she didn't really care.  
  
"Yeah," Alex answered, "Are you guys?"  
  
Megan and Pandora looked at each other a moment and shrugged before assenting. They all crawled into their individual beds.   
  
After the room had long been silent, Ginny pulled a drapery aside to look at Alex.  
  
"Alexia," she hissed, "You 'wake?"  
  
The girl murmured something that sounded vaguely like a 'yeah'.  
  
"About that thing - with, well, you know - I think I'm going to talk to him about it."  
  
"Mmkay," Alex said sleepily, "Go to bed, Gin."   
  
After a moment, the youngest Weasley pulled the covers over her head and obeyed.  
  
------  
  
"Ah," Alex beamed, "First day of winter vacation! And there's only twelve people staying!"  
  
Ginny nodded. She was happy that most of the Slytherins had gone home for the break. Maybe now she'd get a chance to talk to Harry.  
  
"Who's on the list?" Harry asked. They were at breakfast and for once Harry wasn't stuffing his face.  
  
"Let's see," Alex ticked off a bunch of people, "Us five, three Slytherins, a couple Ravenclaws, and a couple Hufflepuffs."  
  
"Which Slytherins?" Ginny asked automatically, without thinking.  
  
Ron gave her his best steely eyed look.  
  
"Why do you care?" He asked, "You aren't about to go starting fights with that Malfoy git again, are you? I heard about how you socked him in the hall." Inwardly, Ginny knew Ron was proud of her. But that pride was vastly overshadowed by his big brother instincts that bordered on psychotic.  
  
"Speaking of Malfoy," Alex cut in smoothly, "He's staying."  
  
Ginny looked at Alex, surprised. She'd thought Malfoy would want to go home to his luxurious manor and servants for the break. Evidently not. She knew it was egotistical, but couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with her.  
  
"So's Zabini, and that quiet girl, but she stays every break," Alex shrugged, "Oh, and Jamie's staying." The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile that would've made the cat that ate the canary jealous.  
  
"Oooooh," Ginny grinned at her friend, "Lucky you. Just don't wear the boy out too much?"  
  
"I have no idea what you mean by that," Alex said airily, twirling a strand of honey blonde hair around her fingertip. She did a very good job of behaving like an loud-mouthed airhead most of the time, but Ginny knew that it was a facade.  
  
"I do," Ron glanced over at the Ravenclaw, sitting a few tables away, "And I wish I didn't."  
  
Alex just smiled serenely while Hermione shot Ron a strange look. After a few more moments, Ron and Hermione went off to snog, fight, or do homework, one of the three - they all seemed to be equally commonplace with the couple - and Alex wandered over to sit on Jamie's lap.  
  
This left Harry and Ginny alone. Ginny felt her heartbeat accelerate and silently voiced a little 'eep'.  
  
Harry glanced over at her and smiled. He was usually quiet in a group - introspective, Ginny liked to call it. Alex said he was stoned.  
  
"So," he said.  
  
"Uh. So," she nodded. What the hell did that mean? He was looking at her like it was her job to start the conversation. So she did.  
  
"They're having a Yule Ball this year," she ventured, fidgeting in her robes.  
  
"Oh, yeah," he nodded, "I, er," he blushed slightly, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that."  
  
Her? He wanted to talk to her? About the Yule Ball? Ginny fought to keep from blushing.  
  
"Oh?" She was pleased to hear that her voice sounded very nonchalant, despite how she felt.  
  
"Yeah .. well .. I was wondering .."   
  
She clutched the hems of her robes. He was going to ask? For the first time, ever, Harry Potter voluntarily wanted something to do with her that didn't involve stupid heroics, even if they saved her life. He was going to ask, he had to.  
  
".. do you think Alex would go with me? I mean, I know she's got a thing with that Ravenclaw, but still .. " He trailed off, looking at Ginny hopefully. Meanwhile, Ginny had decided that her heart, previously thumping loud enough to wake the dead, had died and gone still in her ribcage.   
  
"I don't know," she choked out, sure her horror was written all over her face. Harry didn't seem to notice.  
  
"Oh," he shrugged, "Well, could you find out and tell me, maybe?"  
  
"Sure," she breathed, "I have to go." Before my head explodes, she added mentally, getting up and nearly running out of the Great Hall. She was glad Alex didn't follow - she really couldn't stand to see her right now.  
  
She found herself in an unfamiliar hallway, quite lost and not caring, leaned against a brick wall. A few tears trickled down her cheeks - it was a bit like the end of an era. She'd liked Harry for *so long*, and she knew there wasn't a chance with him. He just thought she was a little sister to him. Damn Ron, she thought angrily, for getting so close to him. She also damned Harry, Alex, herself, Professer Snape for the hell of it, and several distant cousins who had played a prank on her last summer involving a hair dye spell.  
  
So immersed in her pain and damning of others was she that she didn't even hear someone approach. She'd slumped to the floor, wiped the tears away, but they kept coming. She felt a presence before her and looked up to see the face of Draco Malfoy, gazing at her with a mixture of disdain and concern in his cool eyes, if that were possible.  
  
"What the hell happened to you, Red?" He held out his hand to help her up and she gratefully accepted it. She knew she must look a mess, but at least she'd wiped the mascara smudges away before he'd seen them.  
  
"H-H-Harry," she sniffled, digging in her pockets for her wand. The tears were slowing down now.  
  
"What'd the git do now?" Draco asked irritably.  
  
"He .. it sounded exactly as if he were asking me to the Ball, but he only wanted Alex .. " She said forlornly. She produced her wand and and muttered a quick incantation to remove the signs of tears and messed make-up (the very little she wore).   
  
"He tricked you?"   
  
"No," she shook her head, "Well, yes, but not intentionally."  
  
Draco sighed, looking at her.  
  
"These damned balls are important to you females, aren't they?"  
  
She nodded meekly. Now that the situation had fully dawned on her, she was wondering what he wanted - Draco Malfoy helping out a crying girl, much less a Gryffindor, much much less a Weasley, was odd indeed. But then, she mentally acknowledged, things had been odd lately.  
  
"Why don't you get him back?" He queried. Now that he'd mentioned it - Ginny thought it sounded like the simplest, best plan she'd ever heard. Make Harry angry and jealous and maybe Ron, too - killing two birds, or boys, with one stone.  
  
"How would I do that?"   
  
He shrugged.  
  
"Go to the Ball with someone else, someone he hates," Draco suggested. Ginny could tell that he thought his duty was done and that he wanted to leave now.  
  
"But .. the only person in school he really hates is .. is you," she said slowly, looking him in the eye. She was getting an idea.  
  
"Oh, no," he backed up and away from her, slightly, "That would kill my reputation, Weasley."  
  
She shrugged.  
  
"We can always say you were using me to get Harry and Ron angry," she offered with a little smile. A slow grin spread over his features, too - catlike and, she thought to herself, kinda sexy. He did have the best lips.  
  
"Weasley," he slung an arm around her with a companiable air, "Or shall I say, *Virginia*, I like how you think."  
  
She smirked up at him and quietly, in hushed voices, they began to formulate a plan. 


	4. Intensify

A/N: Short chapter. Sorry, the next one will be better. No, I wasn't watching Cruel Intentions while writing this .. swear .. eep! Okay, so I was. So if it reminds you of CI at all, that's why. I don't think I deliberately ripped anything off, although Draco's scene in the mirror is pretty close to one of Sebastian's. Forgive me, okay? Draco/Ginny fics remind me of CI. Thank you to all my reviewers, you are all angels.  
  
This chapter's song: "Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter.  
  
------  
  
------  
  
Two days later, Ginny and Draco were leaning in a nook nearby the Great Hall, conveniently located so that whoever exited the Hall would see them almost immediately.  
  
"This is never going to work," Ginny fretted, "Never in a million years .. "  
  
"Shut up," Draco said, crossly, "If you keep freaking out, no, it won't work. Just remember your part of the deal."  
  
Ginny nodded and restlessly patted at her red hair. At Alex's behest, she'd left it down again today.  
  
"Malfoy, are -"  
  
He cut her off with a hissed 'shhh'. She looked up and saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry, their heads bent together as they discussed something. Ginny felt a pang of jealousy - she'd never been included in those quiet whispers. She forced herself not to care, something that was helped by the fact that Draco had snaked an arm around her waist.  
  
"Just be natural," he murmured, leaning down slightly to whisper into her ear. She couldn't help but let a coy smile tug at her lips. His free hand came up to touch the side of her face, tracing the outline of her lips. A shiver trailed up her spine at the brief touch, but she decided it was only because she was ticklish there. Of course.  
  
The trio walked past them, obviously staring. Ron looked apoplectic, but Hermione had a staying hand on his arm. They'd evidently elected Harry as their ambassador - (Since I have such a *crush* on him and all, Ginny thought bitterly) the raven-haired boy was walking over to them, blatant dislike in his eyes as he glared at Malfoy.  
  
"Something going on?" Harry asked, shifting his gaze from Malfoy to Ginny. Ginny had always thought that Harry had a Malfoyish quality to him - he could channel pure ice almost as well as Draco at times. The only difference was that Malfoy had the viciousness to back it up.  
  
"None of your business, Potter," Malfoy tightened his grip on Ginny's waist, turning so he could nibble lightly on her earlobe. That tickled more than anything else, and she giggled.  
  
"M..Draco, stop," she cautioned, inwardly flinching at her almost-use of surnames, "Everything's just perfect, Harry. What could possibly be wrong?" There was a tremor of lashing out in her voice, just barely detectable underneath layers of gilded honey and saccharine. Harry stared.  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at the Boy Who Lived, the one she'd fancied herself in love with for damn near six years, and found herself not caring. Well-aware of the siren's gleam in her eyes and the lilt to her voice when she spoke and laughed, she turned to face Draco and claim a brief, hungry kiss.   
  
When she broke away, Harry was gone.  
  
"That went better than I expected," Draco commented after a moment, "Although I didn't know kissing was part of the deal."  
  
"Whatever works," she murmured breathily, arching her back slightly in a languid stretch. She could feel Draco's eyes on her. What had happened? She wondered absently. She'd never been able to do this before - or maybe she'd just never noticed when she had.  
  
"Yeah."   
  
She turned to look at him from under dark auburn lashes, a kitteny smile playing on her lips, "Don't worry. You'll get your half of the deal."  
  
"That kiss was almost worth it," he said, rather wryly.  
  
"Almost?" A note of teasing came into her voice.  
  
"Don't tempt me, Red. You're playing with fire, here, you know that?"  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at him and merely smiled, twirling a fingertip around her hair that was indeed reminiscent to flame.  
  
"No," she disagreed, voice soft , "You are."  
  
Standing on her tiptoes, she brushed a delicate kiss over his lips, turned, and strode away. The echo of her boots against the stone floor let her know he was still standing, and the heat in her frame indicated he was watching her.  
  
Good, she thought. Let him watch her walk away from the world.  
  
--------  
  
Draco was having trouble sleeping. Trouble sleeping? More like he could sleep great, as long as he let himself dream of that - that - *vixen*. He'd had no idea she could act like that, and suspected that even she didn't know until that day.  
  
He raked a hand through his light blonde hair, gazing into his mirror.  
  
"Get it together," he growled out, "She's just a girl."  
  
Girls were expendable, he recited to himself, girls were expendable, cheap, and replaceable. Easy.   
  
But he knew no one could quite imitate the hazy gleam in Virginia Weasley's eyes or the curve of her lips when she smiled at him. Lucky she had such an atrociously sweet personality or he might actually consider dating her.  
  
He shuddered at the thought. Virginia, despite her game today and the fact that had it been any other male in Hogwarts who had been there with her she would still be flat on her back, was only an innocent girl.   
  
An innocent girl who was driving him abso-fucking-lutely insane. And he knew she was going through hell right now with her brothers - and for some reason, he felt the need to do something about it.  
  
-----  
  
"What the hell are you doing, Ginny?" Virginia looked up from her curled perch on a cushy armchair near the fire to see the angry face of, who else, Ron.  
  
"Reading," she blinked, "Is that bad?"  
  
"That's not what I mean," he growled out, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"  
  
"Well, yes, actually."  
  
"Virginia!" He was getting annoyed with her now, snatching her book out of her hands, much to her indignation.  
  
"Give that back," she commanded, quietly.  
  
"Not until you tell me what's going on." He looked down at her and it did bother her to see the confusion in his eyes. He looked betrayed.  
  
"Harry thinks you hate him, you know," Ron continued, "And I don't know what to say to you. What were you doing with Malfoy in the hall today?"  
  
She shrugged, "Talking."  
  
"Harry says you kissed Malfoy. In front of him." She looked away to avoid seeing the hurt look in her brother's eyes, "I thought you liked Harry. Fancied him, even."  
  
"I did," she retorted, anger building inside her. She met Ron's eyes, forcing her own to be completely cold, just like Draco's were when they first met, "When I was twelve."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"   
  
"It means," she bit the words out slowly, making sure everyone in the Common area heard, "The Dream Team, the people who have ignored me for all these years, the Wonderkins - can all go fuck themselves, 'cause I don't care anymore, not about people who only notice me if I do something I want and even then it's in a negative way. I don't want to be that lovestruck puppydog pathetic girl anymore, I don't want to care about any of you. I'm sick of caring."  
  
She drew a deep breath, and with that, she snatched her book from an open-mouthed Ron's hands and ran to her room, ignoring a horrified Ron's yells for her to get down there this instant. She dove onto her bed and buried her face in the pillow, sobbing freely, tears coursing down her cheeks and smudging the satiny pillowcase.  
  
After a moment, she felt a comforting hand go to rub her shoulder gently and work out the tense muscles there.  
  
"Go away, Alex," she said, muffled, into her pillow, "I just want to disappear."  
  
"But then you couldn't finish our deal," a voice that was definitely not Alex told her, "And I can't have that, now can I?"  
  
She sat up abruptly, wiping tears from her eyes, "Oh. It's you. How did you -"  
  
He cut her off by placing a fingertip on her lips.  
  
"Red, what do those people do to you?" He took in her sad eyes and slumped shoulders.  
  
"Oh, Draco," she slid towards him and he wrapped his arms around her, a bit surprised, "I just want to get away from them. They only notice me when I go out of their little perfect-kids rules. It's like I'm too weird for them, like they .."  
  
"Like they what?"  
  
The look she gave him was the saddest one he'd ever seen. Normally he would've called it pathetic, but he didn't like those kids any more than she did.  
  
"Like they know," she whispered miserably, "Like they know that I'm not supposed to be here in Gryffindor." 


	5. Desire

( Just a tiny taste of smut here - nothing too big, all the clothes stay on. I just had to do somethin' to fill the space, y'know? )  
  
He was looking at her with something akin to surprise in his cool eyes.  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked quietly, sinking down to sit next to her on the bed. He moved one hand to brush tendrils of bright hair away from her features. She wanted to trust him.  
  
"Y-your father is Lucius Malfoy. Do .. did he ever tell you what was in th .." she swallowed back a fresh bout of tears, "What was in the Chamber of Secrets?"  
  
"The Dark Lord," Draco nodded, "And you .. "   
  
His eyes widened with realization. Everyone knew she had been down there, and of course his father had ranted for hours on end about Potter after they'd lost Dobby, although house elves were replaceable, but he'd caught a phrase or two about Voldemort lurking in that Chamber under the guise of youth.  
  
"What did he tell you, Virginia?" He forced a bit of steel back into his voice, but when Ginny looked at his eyes she saw something entirely different.  
  
"The only way for .. I'm a Parselmouth, Draco," she choked out, "If that isn't the mark of a Slytherin, what is?"  
  
Draco gazed at her for a moment before shaking his head.  
  
"Rubbish. So's Potter and he's as Gryffy as they get, isn't he?"  
  
"It's not him, though, the failed curse transferred some of You-Know-Who's powers to him .. me, this is .. "  
  
".. why the Dark Lord was so attracted to you in the first place," Draco finished, "He knew the stigma of your gift - and it is a gift, Virginia - added to your young age would make you an easy target."  
  
She looked up at him, eyes earnest and trusting. She'd had a rough few days and they both knew it.  
  
"You're as Gryff as Godric, Virginia, you've just got a wild streak in you," he smirked lightly at the thought, "One I suspect even I haven't fully explored."  
  
She seemed to be regaining her good spirits now, rolling her eyes at him and merely commenting, "I'm not sure I want to know what you mean by that, Draco."  
  
"Do you ever?"  
  
She looked at him seriously and shook her head slightly, "No. No, I'm afraid I don't know anything about you."  
  
He pulled her small body closer to his. She willingly slid onto his lap and he tightened his grip around her waist.  
  
"What do you want to know?" He murmured into her ear. His hands, brushing across her lower torso and occasionally daring upwards, were dominating - but still innately curious. Despite how he looked, she thought, still a boy.  
  
"Why are you so closed-off?" She wriggled lightly in his lap, eliciting a groan he tried unsuccessfully to bite back. Little tease, he thought wryly. He was glad she couldn't see the look in his eyes - it might've scared her off.  
  
"Don't move like that or I'll go crazy," he commanded, and then thought back to her question, "My father's absolutely crazed. I think he was alright at one point, but in my family certain things just get drilled into your head your whole life. I'm just of the opinion it's best to keep people closed off from you."  
  
She smiled slightly to herself at his order, "But what about your mother?"  
  
"She's okay, I guess - she treats me well, if very seldom anyone else."  
  
Ginny leaned against him lightly and he shut his eyes. She was moving again and knew it. "It sounds very lonely," she whispered.  
  
"It was. But I'll be out of there soon."  
  
He gazed at her a moment.  
  
"Virginia," he said abruptly, "We're pretending that I'm playing with you to the public, right?"  
  
She blinked and nodded affirmation.  
  
"In private it doesn't have to be playing."  
  
Her breath caught in her throat as she twined her fingertips through his, unsure as to how to respond. After a seemingly endess silence, she spoke up.  
  
"Okay."  
  
A smile lit his face, quickly hidden as he leaned forward to kiss her roughly, his larger hands moving to grasp her frail wrists. She seemed stunned, but quickly responded with fervor. He spun her round so her legs were on either side of him and she was almost straddling him, her fingertips trailing across the nape of his neck and under his shirt and all over, his own venturing to brush the softness of her face and just beneath the pale green blouse she wore. Possessively, he bit at the side of her neck, flicking a full-lipped blessing just over the jugular. She arched against him and murmured, clearly trying not to make too much noise. He smirked, slightly, before claiming her lips yet again.  
  
She pressed her hips against his and he bit back a growl, her lips breathing a repressed a whimper. She was right up against him and sliding up and down, slowly, pulling back to watch the hungry expression in his eyes before he pulled her down for another savage, bruising kiss.  
  
Things probably would have progressed a lot further, but unfortunately, that was exactly when Alex cleared her throat. 


End file.
